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If the game is going a bit bad you can sell Rylai's for a Banshee's Veil. But with this build you survive, have over 3000 HP, 15% CDR from deathfire, combined with the blue golem / Nashor buff, you hit the cap on CDR, and Void Staff covers your spell pen.

Haha I didnt realize that I went up against one of the better Ryze players earlier this eve Argonius...

Today was my first day playing ryze and I think I went 17/5 and matched you with what seems like a few more deaths but my team wasnt that great...

I feel that this build looks interesting... But I use a strong AP build with spell penetration and did just as well as your survivability build.. however looking at the exponential application of his passive and a CD item I have some new itemization builds.. I think Ryze cant be very strong both ways but what comes down to your success is your timing of your abilities... Usually I am able to take people down in one combo... Cause it is timed properly... And what is this about using DP after your abilities?

Again its about timing... DP > RP > SF > OL > Ignite and they are pretty much toast.. You have your ultimate applied to every ability which means you deal that much more damage. And DP's affects apply to RP so you start off strong and nukem down... But essentially I am saying that I feel an AP build is more effective for a skilled player who can properly time your abilites as opposed to relying on spamming your abilities... But to each his own...

I want to say thanks for the guide. I just started playing LoL this week and I took to Ryze like a fish to water. I usually play mage-ish characters, so the first character I tried was Veigar, but I cannot play him well. I got to try Ryze for two days and knew he was meant for me.

Right now I'm level 9. I use this build/strategy and it has done wondrous things. No one expects a Ryze to last long. When I get a chance to throw out a third Flux in a fight on two (now only one) champions, I just laugh.

I see your point about DP. I was thinking just to get as much damage off per spell in the shortest period of time. But that's a good point, I'll take a look at changing around that lineup.

In theory I agree that it's generally better to use items, masteries and runes to shore up weakspots rather than using them to overpower an already existing strength of a champion, but in this case I have to disagree.

With the changes, the old (damage=AP) focus of Ryze is just no longer the same. Every one of his abilities had a nerf in AP ratio.

Because Ryze's passive stacks with cooldowns, it effectively gives you the ability to go over the cap, just by using your skills. Instead of focusing on expensive damage through AP, this build focuses on maxing your cooldown cap and building a huge mana pool so that you can literally chain spam all of your skills continuously in a fight.

This gives you the chance to spend money on more survivable items, for example, if you look at the Leaguecraft link at the start of the Build section, that build has 3700+ hp and over 50% resist to physical and magic damage.

As for Frozen Heart, the reasoning behind that item is this. First off, it has 25% cooldown, tied for the most of any item. That means you can max your cooldown without taking any additional item slots. It also has 500 mana which is a ton. For survivability, it adds 110 armor - which is the most for any item and significantly increases Ryze's physical defence. Coupled with the 35% attack speed slow, it's great defence against any non-caster. Even if you're fighting all casters (which is pretty much a win anyway) Frozen Heart will add bonus defence against minions and towers for chasing down champions behind enemy lines.

Thanks for the feedback, I hope that sort of explains the reasoning, behind those choices and the build.

I understand where you are coming from with the build, but justifying it with "nerfed AP ratios" makes little to no sense, because Ryze has amazing AP ratios. .45 is low on overload, but that is made up for with a RoA/Archangels if you decide to get either. The .33 ratios on Spell flux and rune prison are hardly .38 and .2, however.

Spell flux bounces five times for a total of six hits, and rune prison hits 6 times (every .4 seconds for 2.4 seconds). That means that spell flux has an AP ratio of 2.28 if every one of your fluxes hits an enemy, and 1.14 if you bounce it between yourself and a target.

Rune Prison hits every .4 seconds for 40+.2 AP for 2.4 seconds, meaning it actually deals 1.2 AP to a single target.

I won't say your build is bad until I test it out for myself, but Ryze is about dealing that big spell spam combo on a group of 2 or 3 and getting out before he dies. I don't know how your build can offer him the health he needs to be a spell spamming tank, but if it does then I can see it working if team fights last long enough. Ryze is one of those "focus him now" characters, and if your abilities do decent damage then they won't stick around long enough to be focused again.

edit: After looking at your leaguecraft sample build, I have to say that it is a poor last choice. Getting your health from warmogs is a bad idea, especially late in the game. The item is the worst gold efficient item you can buy in the game. You lose 1100g for buying it. Once you stack it up completely, which you probably won't do if it is your last buy in a game, you are still losing 90g. Other items give decent gold efficiency where you lose out on a few hundred gold in order to get a special effect or something.

For example, Rod of Ages costs you 3035g and gives you 2831g worth in stats. You pay that 204g for the effect that makes you more powerful over time, to the point where 15 minutes later, the item is worth 4720g.

Zhonyas costs you 3460 and gives you 3163 worth in stats, because you pay for the 25% bonus to AP from your other items.

Warmog's item cost comes from the passive regen, which will very very very rarely save your life and is often regarded as a worthless stat beyond the laning phase.